An ex-con who assumes the identity of a dead sheriff, the con's partner who's assumed a new identity as a respectable wife and mother, and a malevolent kingpin whose business is just a front for any number of illegal activities: You've probably seen it all before, but "Banshee," a new Cinemax action series, gives it a sexy new spin.

No, the show, premiering Friday night, has nothing to do with evil Irish spirits. Banshee is the name of the small town in Pennsylvania Amish country where a new sheriff named Lucas Hood is expected any day now. Hood shows up, but he won't be taking the sheriff's job or any job, for that matter, after he stops in at the local bar run by ex-boxing champ Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison, "The Wire").

2 sources of action

Instead, the job and Hood's name are taken by the master thief who just did 15 years for stealing diamonds. The new Lucas (Antony Starr, "Rush") didn't show up in Banshee by accident: He's looking for his ex-girlfriend and criminal partner, who has changed her name and become Carrie Hopewell (Ivana Milicevic, 2011's "Charlie's Angels" series), the respectable wife of the local district attorney, Gordon Hopewell (Rus Blackwell, "Burn Notice"). Hood wants his share of the diamonds, but he clearly wants Carrie even more. While he's waiting to get her, there seem to be any number of willing and beautiful women in Banshee to help him pass the time.

The show's action comes from two sources. First, the Ukrainian mob is out to get Hood and Carrie because it wants its diamonds back. But closer to home, there's Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen, "The Celebration"), who is officially shunned by his father and the rest of the Amish community for being an all-around bad guy. Cold-blooded, rich and sadistic, Proctor owns a meatpacking business, but also runs drugs, prostitutes and anything else that illegally lines his pockets.

Effective sheriff

Probably the one element you haven't seen before in this mix is the transvestite hairdresser-slash-computer hacker Job (Hoon Lee, "Premium Rush"), who helps keep the mob off Hood's tail and otherwise helps Hood establish his unlikely new identity.

Starr is just rugged-looking enough to be credible as an ex-con, and handsome enough to be the heartthrob of Banshee, both the town and the series. Hood may be more comfortable on the other side of the law, but he surprises the town, and himself, by being a tough, independent and fairly effective sheriff.

"Banshee" was created by David Schickler and Jonathan Tropper and produced by "True Blood's" Alan Ball, among others. In other words, it has a solid pedigree. It's also part of Cinemax's effort to expand its original programming. That effort pays off with "Banshee."